Saturday, November 3, 2012

Oshwa Q&A

Megan PurazrangWCB Music Writer

I recently spoke to Chicago-based band Oshwa to discuss its sound and the new EP and what's next. The members are all current Columbia College Chicago students: Alicia Walter(vocalist), Jordan Tate(drummer), Michael Macdonald (guitarist) and most recent member Michael Byrnes (bassist). Oshwa released a three song playlist on Bandcamp.com on Aug. 18 titled "transmissions from the midwest: a real-america tribute." Walter and Macdonald took time to answer a few questions for WCB. WCB:How did everyone in
the band meet?

Alicia: Well, despite being less than two years old we’ve
had quite a few people involved in oshwa already - the core being myself,
Michael Macdonald, Jordan Tate, Matt Noonan, and Michael Byrnes. I met Michael Mac at a co-op we both lived in
on the north side of Chicago, in summer 2010;
I met Jordan in Keyboard Ensemble when I transferred into Columbia
College in September 2010; Matt Noonan
and I have been best friends of some sort since we were sophomores in high school;
and the four of us all met Michael Byrnes when we recorded our most recent EP
at Space Jam Studios. And our current
bassist, Seth Engel - I’ve known him since I asked him to play at the co-op
Mike and I lived at, late 2010.

Michael Mac: Uh huh, yeah, so once we moved out of Ubuntu
(aforementioned ‘co-op’) I moved to Pilsen in the 25th Ward, she
moved to Logan Square. By the summer of
2011 she had moved to Pilsen as well, and we became neighbors. I started
playing guitar on her songs, and we started playing shows together. We came to
realize that we are both creatively compatible, and have certain musical
intuitions that the other can put faith in.

WCB: How did you come up with your band name?

Alicia: This is quoted from Matt Noonan, via Facebook chat:
“The name oshwa comes from a nickname given to Alicia by her high school
sweetheart on a bus ride after a marching band competition in
Indianapolis. He called her (with
childish glee) "oshwa thee indian!"
He still calls her osh, despite how incredibly twee that all is.”

WCB: What bands influence your sound and how would you
describe Oshwa’s sound?

Alicia:
Our influences are actually
pretty vast - Jordan and I are both finishing our degrees in Music
Composition, and we’ve both studied a
wide range of piano repertoire through the 20th century. We’ve both found composers that really strike
us, between the two of us, namely Bartok and Scriabin.

Michael Mac: Oshwa is ever-so-evolving! It is undergoing constant
change, and to say what that is yet would be to speak to soon. However, we can
say that the method of creating this record is different than recording the
last EP, and that will have an impact on the material because of the level of
control we have over it. The last EP was this sort of, “Hey guys, we’re a
band,” …thing, and the purpose of it was primarily to document what we were
doing as a live band at that time. We are recording the new record
ourselves. It has given us a certain
freedom to do things that take time, like writing in wind and brass instruments
and adding different sonic elements… things that we will translate into a live
setting to take with us on tour this summer.

WCB: Talk about your
EP- what were the challenges?

Alicia:
Personally, the challenge was
actually having other people record
us - even though the guys at Space Jam are our friends. Michael Mac and I recorded our previous EP
entirely ourselves, and, generally speaking, I have a hard time not having
control. But I really learned a helluva
lot from Adam Salsberg and Seth Engel, from recording to mixing, and the whole
experience was super positive.

WCB: How has the band
changed since Michael entered?

Alicia: Michael Byrnes took over on bass after Matt Noonan
moved to Peru - and Michael himself has trans-atlanticized to Germany for the
time being. But when Michael Byrnes
started playing with us, it was a big deal for me, because he was the first
member who wasn’t a close friend of mine already. It made me more confident that he liked
playing in oshwa, since he wasn’t personally connected to us as friends,
initially - he just genuinely liked the music.

WCB: What is something that would be interesting to know
about Oshwa?

Alicia: We all sleep
under the same rock!!!

Michael Mac: [chuckles] Well, we are hoping to get this
Artist-in-Residency outside of Traverse City, Mi, in January. It would basically entail Alicia and I holing
up in a fully stocked cabin for the month, recording the meat of our
album. If that doesn’t work out, we’re
going to drive to this really old cabin my extended family owns in Gaylord, Mi
to finish it. Bon Iver style, sort of.

WCB: How often do you play live shows, where
is your favorite place to perform?

Alicia: On average, we play about 2-3 shows a month. Personally, I really dig a solid house
show. People really care about your
music at those shows. But playing in a
venue with really nice sound is like eating cake and ice cream.

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